Episode 308: Friends Like These
Friends Like These is the eighth episode of the third season and the thirty-sixth episode overall. Notes * Clients: Barry * Bad Guys: Natalie Rice, Milovan Dragas Synopsis Michael agrees to take on a job offered by Strickler in order to have his burn notice cleared. Meanwhile, Barry asks Michael and Fiona for help to retrieve his stolen business ledger. Spy Facts When you prepare for a mission, it's the little things that count. Firepower is great, but an operation is more likely to be saved by a fresh set of batteries than a gun. Heists are like parties. The worst part is cleaning up. Someone has to stay behind to get rid of all the evidence. Of course, tidying up after a heist often involves methods not suitable for parties. Anyone trained in counter-surveillance knows most field ops are between 22, when people finish training and 55, when they retire; which is why even wary operatives don't pay attention to kids or anyone on Social Security. Searching a pre-furnished house is pretty straightforward. Without a lot of furniture or customized safes, there aren't many great hiding places. So, once you've checked all the usual slicks--the spots pros would use--you're stuck calling it a day or ripping out the drywall. Work in the field long enough, you recognize hard targets for interrogation--people who shut down at the first hint of confrontation. Best way to get 'em talking: avoid confrontation as long as possible. There's a reason fear often fails as an interrogation technique. Most interrogation subjects are already scared. Scaring them more doesn't help. What they need is a friend. Used in embassies to store secrets, burn safes depend on an internal ignition device to start a fire. Pump in liquid CO2 and, if you do it right, you can turn that ignition device into a Popsicle. Do it wrong, you turn everything inside the safe into a pile of ash. In any new situation where you go in cold, you have to be alert to warning signs. The sound of a MAC-10's bolt action for example. A MAC-10 can fire 50 rounds in a few seconds, but it's one of the least accurate guns in the hands of an amateur. Survive the first burst and you have a decent chance. Like good poker players, spies know it's impossible to hide the tells that come with a blood stream full of adrenaline. If showing fear or concern jeopardizes a mission, you replace it with an emotion that won't. Spies don't keep a lot of prisoners. When you hold someone, you only learn what they tell you. Let them go, and you can learn what they do and where they go. Anybody with training can detect a tail from a single car. Pros watch for anyone who makes the same turns or runs too many yellow lights. To beat a pro then, you need a team. It's best to start a tail midway along your target's route when the're sure no one's following. To do that, you need someone down the road to give you a heads-up. Once you have eyes on a target, it's just a matter of handing off surveillance at regular intervals. Hang behind your target too long, and they'll wonder why you're not passing. Best way to avoid their suspicion, pass them. There's no greater luxury in the field than working with a friend you rely on, when you find someone you can trust absolutely, you want them on every operation you do. And nothing hurts worse than losing a friend to bullets, politics, or something personal. But when you have to work alone again, you lock those feelings away and do the job at hand. Because, as every spy knows, there's plenty of time to think about what you've lost after the mission is over. Full Recap Cast Main *Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen *Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne *Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe *Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen Recurring * Paul Tei as Barry * Ben Shenkman as Tom Strickler * Otto Sanchez as Diego Garza * Callie Thorne as Natalie Rice Guest * * Kristof Konrad as Milovan Dragas * Debi Mazar as Amy * Daniel Joseph Wilson as Bennett Tash Trivia * Milovan Dragas' passport is written in Russian, despite being a Serbian passport. Continuity Errors *When Michael is taking the surveillance pictures of the deal the cameras LCD shows that he's taking the pictures in color but when he gives them to Strickler they are grainy black and white. 308 Category:Season 3